A happy birthday party for her husband brought our long-lost, always-wonderful client, Helen MacKenzie, back to us last month. As usual, it was a total pleasure brainstorming with her over the perfect wording, perfect image, perfect design for a party that would feature a bagpiper at the entry door, balloons covering the ceilings, gracious and non-ordinary catering, and a good reason to get out your tux…or kilt.

The first things she told me, as we began our explorations, were that David loves, I mean LOVES, penguins! And he LOVES RED. Oh boy, appropriate clues revealed. I started searching for penguin images, and, as Helen observed, the thing that’s generally wrong with penguin images is that they are either too cute or anthropomorphic, or too realistically penguinish. I found the perfect thing on Etsy, from poordogfarm, in Pennsylvania: this Penguin Queen had just the right insouciance.

We tipped her onto our gorgeous 600 gsm Lettra paper with a brilliant RED letterpressed “dent,” which framed her ironic and regal presence quite dashingly. Rhea Rynearson, our printer extraordinaire, applied deep impression to the raised text, giving each letter a little shadow, the shadow we live for in Letterpress Printing. Rhea is the most talented printer, and I’ve known a lot of printers, including even ME.

Gleefully inviting friends to a Swanky Soiree, admonishing them to Dress To Kill (Rhea’s favorite thing she ever had to apply to paper!), and sending the thick, luxurious, practically frameable invitations to invitees’ actual mailboxes gave the entire affair an air of the absolutely-cannot-miss-this, and at the same time, just hilarious fun, which, Helen tells me, carried over to the real party. A blast was had by all.

We just finished designing and printing letterpress business cards for a wonderfully talented new arrival to the Mendocino Coast. Karen McGrath brings many years of knowledge and experience in planning outdoor spaces in Redding, California, where her client base included residential and commercial property owners, contractors, architects, interior designers, and fans of every stripe. Her intelligent use of space and luxurious landscaping instincts will be put to good use in our cool, moist climate. She’s excited to work with our coastal cornucopia of cool weather loving plants.

And she loves her new Studio Z Mendocino letterpress cards like crazy:

We printed them on 600 gsm Lettra in a very deep, forest-y green ink, then foiled the word GARDEN in some kind of indescribable pale green metallic foil. You can see the gleam in the rather moody photo above.

The backs are printed in ink except one little botanical dingbat is done in foil:

The frosting on this delicious cake was a green edge, which perfectly matches the foil.

Deep, deep impression, super-thick paper, chic-but-slightly-whimsical typography, a bit of bling, a certain spirit in it: the cards describe Karen’s outgoing personality and gorgeous work. We aim for this effect, this matching what we do to graphically signal what you do with subtlety and verve, and are always gratified when we nail it for our clients. We feel lucky that Karen has chosen to move to the coast, too.

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]]>https://studiozmendocino.wordpress.com/2017/04/10/mendocino-garden-consultants-letterpress-business-cards-with-foil-edge-painting/feed/0IMG_1177zida1MGC side viewback bcIMG_1179MGC front photoCrosara Design Digitally Printed Business Cards for Fine Upholsteryhttps://studiozmendocino.wordpress.com/2017/02/16/crosara-design-digitally-printed-business-cards-for-fine-upholstery/
https://studiozmendocino.wordpress.com/2017/02/16/crosara-design-digitally-printed-business-cards-for-fine-upholstery/#respondThu, 16 Feb 2017 19:19:13 +0000http://studiozmendocino.wordpress.com/?p=3457Fernando Crosara is a genius of fine upholstery. He learned his arcane craft with Italian master upholsterers and brings his most persnickety, perfectionist traditional talents to the US via his birthplace in Brazil. He can reupholster ANYTHING and make it new again. Better than new. He’s also the handsomest man in the world, just saying.

I felt lucky to get to make his new logo, which I completely love for its simplicity, modernity, and even if I do say so myself, cleverness. See what’s going on? A circle turns into a monogram C and D. Have I mentioned how very much I love designing monograms? LOVE.

We chose to do digitally printed cards with a glossy finish to set off the chic black-and-white design. Less is more, less is more, less is more.

(The little spotted plate is by a local ceramicist whose last name I forgot. Her first name is Lizzie and I’m crazy about her work! You can find it at the Artists Coop in downtown Fort Bragg.)

Knoxville photographer David Payne called one day last year and wanted to talk about business cards. I can talk about business cards all the live-long day, so we had a conversation that ranged from printing and design to photography, cars, weddings, and the fact that I’ve long wanted to visit Knoxville, Tennessee. Etc. When two talkers get on the phone, you can expect some communication to occur.

Specifically, he was ready for a drop-dead-amazing business card, had encountered the Studio Z Mendocino website and blog, and thought I was the right person for the job. That’s always a lovely thing to hear, of course, and it was a pleasure to describe what my work is to someone as perspicacious as this new customer/friend David Payne is. He really got it — like, everything! I think that’s why he’s a great photographer, too. He gets it. He feels it. And he intends it. IT being excellence, devotion, a work ethic, aesthetics, the power of image and beauty, the pleasure of conversation.

I immediately got to work designing his new logo, which is a ‘dp’ inside a box that you can spin on its head and it’s still the same. We went back and forth with some ideas about color, type faces, and what you see above is the happy result, printed perfectly by Rhea Rynearson.

When the actual printing part started, though, that’s when we ran into some snags.

We got busy ordering his gorgeous, super-thick Cranes Lettra paper, the foil die and beautiful, sheer pearl foil, the film for the type on the back, the plates, the this, the that…minutia that make up what happens with letterpress that we are so used to and that usually goes very smoothly. Not every story has a straight-through trajectory, however. There were some illnesses, there were this hitch and that hitch, and in the end, I can only say, sorry… it took a long time. David was never-endingly patient, bless him. He was incredibly nice and understanding about every single thing and just kept his eye on the prize that he wanted. In the end, after everything, they got delivered and he sent me this email:

“Cards came in. They are PERFECT!!!!!!!”

]]>https://studiozmendocino.wordpress.com/2017/01/15/david-payne-photography-letterpress-business-cards/feed/0zida1Splendiferous!https://studiozmendocino.wordpress.com/2016/05/24/splendiferous-2/
https://studiozmendocino.wordpress.com/2016/05/24/splendiferous-2/#commentsWed, 25 May 2016 04:50:18 +0000http://studiozmendocino.wordpress.com/2016/05/24/splendiferous-2/Studio Z Mendocino: Monica Wellington’s impossibly fabulous SPLENDIFEROUS women’s clothing boutique, on Fort Bragg’s most fashionista-friendly Laurel Street, needed a new business card. The last one I had designed for her was a little bit funky (thick kraft paper), a little bit swoozy (ultra-wild typesetting), and had served its purpose well for…]]>

Monica Wellington’s impossibly fabulous SPLENDIFEROUS women’s clothing boutique, on Fort Bragg’s most fashionista-friendly Laurel Street, needed a new business card. The last one I had designed for her was a little bit funky (thick kraft paper), a little bit swoozy (ultra-wild typesetting), and had served its purpose well for several years.

Super cute, right?

Now, almost out of the old ones, she wanted something to match the way Splendiferous! had evolved over the ensuing years, to 2016. Monica wanted to keep the dandelion puff we’d always used, and she still loved “Splendiferous” spelled with an exclamation point in place of that “i,” in the middle, but it needed a new, sleeker, chicer, more uber interpretation that befit how the shop is now: Ultra-glorious.

Monica couldn’t make up her mind whether she loved white paper or black paper. Each gives off such a different vibe. So, of course, in line with…

This birth announcement for baby Salvador was printed on luxuriously thick and subtly textured 600 gsm Cranes Lettra so we could take full advantage of letterpress’s characteristic impression. The rectangular dent at the top makes a frame for the tipped-on photograph. Printed by Rhea Rynearson for us, the 100 5″x7″ announcements and matching envelopes were around $10 a piece, including shipping to Europe. Salvador’s parents told me that their friends and family loved it. And how could they not? It helps to have the most beautiful baby in the world, too.

The dent makes a frame where the photo nestles. Tipped-on or tipped-in means a separate piece is glued to the paper, giving one more textural point of interest.

It’s all about texture. The inked type sinks deeply into the very thick paper and leaves a little shadow around each letter and number. This is how you identify letterpress. A beautiful way to tell the world your darling new child has come into the world.

]]>https://studiozmendocino.wordpress.com/2016/05/21/baby-salvadors-letterpress-birth-announcement/feed/0zida1Salvador Baby AnnouncementThe dent makes a framedeep impressionSplendiferous!https://studiozmendocino.wordpress.com/2016/04/10/splendiferous/
https://studiozmendocino.wordpress.com/2016/04/10/splendiferous/#commentsSun, 10 Apr 2016 19:12:35 +0000http://studiozmendocino.wordpress.com/?p=3296Monica Wellington’s impossibly fabulous SPLENDIFEROUS women’s clothing boutique, on Fort Bragg’s most fashionista-friendly Laurel Street, needed a new business card. The last one I had designed for her was a little bit funky (thick kraft paper), a little bit swoozy (ultra-wild typesetting), and had served its purpose well for several years.

Super cute, right?

Now, almost out of the old ones, she wanted something to match the way Splendiferous! had evolved over the ensuing years, to 2016. Monica wanted to keep the dandelion puff we’d always used, and she still loved “Splendiferous” spelled with an exclamation point in place of that “i,” in the middle, but it needed a new, sleeker, chicer, more uber interpretation that befit how the shop is now: Ultra-glorious.

Monica couldn’t make up her mind whether she loved white paper or black paper. Each gives off such a different vibe. So, of course, in line with my motto, If it’s worth doing, it’s worth OVER-doing: I printed her new designs on BOTH–half on white Cranes Lettra 600 gsm, and half on black super-thick, thick, thick, amazing Museum Mount papers, and then, of course, we gilded the lily…

Oh, gee. What can you say? Gold, metallic edge gilding.

On the white paper, we used a pearlized white foil for the puff and on the black paper, we used gloss black foil for the puff. Everything else was in gold foil. Everything else was just, you know, splendiferous.

Here’s the back.

Next time you are in Fort Bragg, you HAVE to go shopping there.

You can order YOUR over-the-top, gilded-lily business cards from Studio Z Mendocino whenever you’re ready for the Next Step. 707.964.2522. These cards are very expensive, it’s true ($1.70 each for 1000 — and no, getting 100 doesn’t work to lower the cost, those would be well over $5 each), but they are worth every cent for the astonishment these little pieces of art provoke in potential clients, the curiosity, and the perfectly fitting vibe. If you’re going to have an ambassador out in the world representing you, it had better be capable of the heavy lifting your high-end clientele expects.

A happy, joyful A and T dance all over Amber and Ted’s wedding invitations

When my sis, Liz, called to tell me my niece Amber was getting hitched and asked if I would make her invitations, I was so happy about it. Liz came out to California for a visit from their Indiana home, and we went over things together at my sister Sandi’s summer place near the ocean. How should it be?…SIMPLE (many times reiterated). Check. Outdoorsy!! Check.

What are her colors? asked I. “Watery-aqua-ish-old canning jar color, and maybe silver,” replies she. Check! Old canning jar color it will be…

I later wrote to Amber about the discussion the mom and aunties had had, and sent her an idea (the one you see above): “Well, I got creative today, finally. I hope not TOO creative! I decided to make you a monogram but I didn’t want it to be a stuffy old monogram. Rather something happy, young, dance-y, fun!, and because you are getting married in the spring/summer, something that relates to that season. This is what I came up with. Do you see the “A” and the “T”? You will be able to use this monogram on lots of things, like your table tags or whatnot, or your stationery for your thank you notes. Your towels, the side of your delivery truck…[kidding]”

Amber had a BIG year…getting married AND graduating with a BA all within months of each other. We were all so proud of her. It made me very happy to create her wedding invitations AND to get to go out to the wedding with all my siblings together for the first time in a long time. Beautiful!

We were going to do them digitally, but oh heck, this was too big for that. I ended up doing them letterpress on 300 gram Cranes Lettra, and mounting them on an “old canning jar colored” backing sheet. They are printed on generous six-and-a-half-inch square cards and the big seven-inch square envelopes sported the same monogram (of course). It really was such a family affair. My talented middle sister Sandi did all the flowers…

Auntie Sandi made Amber’s bouquet

And one of my favorite moments was before the wedding when all the sisters were getting dressed and made up in a big flurry…

Aunties and Cousins getting ready

Auntie Mary’s cupcakes and hand made candies for miles

Auntie Mary made the cupcakes for miles and Uncle Joe and I catered the rehearsal dinner. Cousin Dylan did the wedding taco dinner that was ultra-yummy.

Indiana Gothic — Uncle Joe and Cousin Dylan with the canoe paddle they used for their “guest book.”

A very wonderful time was had by all. Lots of laughs and lots of tears and lots dancing and lots of love.

]]>https://studiozmendocino.wordpress.com/2015/09/10/amber-and-tims-letterpress-invitations-for-their-indiana-wedding/feed/0zida1A happy, joyful A and T dance all over Amber and Tim's wedding invitationsAmber + Tim's big square wedding invitationAuntie Sandi made Amber's bouquetAunties and Cousins getting readyAuntie Mary's cupcakes and hand made candies for milesIndiana Gothic -- Uncle Joe and Cousin Dylan with the canoe paddle they used for their Bella Viva Interior Design — Deanne England’s Fabulous New Logo, Letterpress Business Cards, Stationery, Press Kithttps://studiozmendocino.wordpress.com/2015/08/15/bella-viva-interior-design-deanne-englands-fabulous-new-logo-letterpress-business-cards-stationery-press-kit/
https://studiozmendocino.wordpress.com/2015/08/15/bella-viva-interior-design-deanne-englands-fabulous-new-logo-letterpress-business-cards-stationery-press-kit/#commentsSun, 16 Aug 2015 03:18:47 +0000http://studiozmendocino.wordpress.com/?p=3271Deanne England, the incredibly talented interior designer and owner of Bella Viva Interior Design, called me one day out of the blue. She was surprised to learn that my studio is only an hour-and-a-half drive from her northern California office. She was looking for someone to design her new logo, business cards, stationery, etc., and had found my website and blog, liked what she’d discovered there, and suddenly we were chatting excitedly away like two old friends making plans.

As with all interior designers I have worked with, she had many, many ideas and concerns, and at the same time she was wonderfully open to my input. After establishing a mutual recognition and rapport, we hung up on a note of simply infinite possibilities as I zoomed into my favorite space: the trance of design. Where does that thing come from? How does it work? Honestly, it’s the biggest mystery, and I love it.

One of my favorite parts of the work I get to do is designing monograms. It just knocks me out. For Deanne, I drew a lot of little doodles all over everything I saw for the next few days. I had envisioned something very crisp and modern, yet classical — but I did NOT envision what eventually emerged out of my doodles, not at all: A playful little “flower,” a nestled b and v, very hand-drawn looking. To tell you the truth, I was a little scared even to show it to Deanne because it was so far away from what we had talked about! But I got up my nerve and pushed the button anyway, because I really loved it. The worst that could happen was I would go back to the drawing board, right? So there it was, traveling to her via a brave little .pdf attachment. Fingers crossed, I awaited her response…

And guess what: SHE loved it too. LOVED!

The next step was designing the typography, which came together so naturally. And then deciding on colors: Deanne was definite — seafoam green and gold foil. That too was surprising…and perfect. These incremental decisions have so much importance when you are in the designing mode, patiently moving toward a final product. Each tweak, each gradation of color, each space between each letter…all come to mean so much to how a logo lands on paper and in how it is perceived by prospective clients. Everything has to ‘speak’ of attention to detail, to beauty, to rhythm and proportion, and mood, and a million unnameable things that play into what finally happens. This is the beauty of design and the beauty of collaboration.

In the end, we printed up an entire Stationery Suite for Deanne, all by letterpress and all just so beautiful. It included the amazing business cards you see here, letterhead and #10 business envelopes, thank you notes and envelopes for those,

mailing labels, great big black envelopes with personalized mailing labels for sending out samples and unfolded sheets of paper, and the amazing press kits, which required a LOT of very special techniques to make them work.

Everything but the folders was printed on our venerable Heidelberg Windmill presses, as always, by Rhea Rynearson, the best letterpress printer I have ever known (and you should know her too), using age-old knowledge, intuition, and deep reverence for this 500-year-old craft we keep alive every day at Studio Z Mendocino! We are so grateful to have clients like Deanne England, who understand the power that resides in great creative design and beautiful printing.